What trends in IT recruiting are going to emerge in 2026? What changes in the way recruitment teams search for the perfect candidates? Some things stay the same - customers still need the support of outsourcing companies to facilitate the hiring process. But is the demand growing even bigger than in the past few years?
As the IT industry evolves, talent acquisition has become a critical component of IT recruiting, with tech recruiters playing a specialized role in sourcing, attracting, and building high-performing technical teams to meet the complex and changing needs of organizations.
Once again we will dive in on this topic, basing our observations on our very own experiences. From the most popular positions among candidates to customers’ expectations, let’s see what occurred in 2025 and what might be waiting for us in 2026. Helping us out in navigating through the news and data will be the Managers of NATEK Recruitment Team:
Bulgaria🇧🇬 - Donka Nikolova, NATEK Country Manager Bulgaria
Czechia🇨🇿 and Slovakia🇸🇰 - Veronika Melicherova, NATEK Recruitment Team Manager
Poland🇵🇱 - Mateusz Chmielowski, NATEK Recruitment Manager
NATEK Customers' demand for tech talent grows every year
IT recruiting teams play a crucial role in helping organizations access top technology talent and skilled employees, not only during standard recruitments but especially when facing complex or niche hiring needs. By leveraging a dedicated team of tech recruiters, companies benefit from a focused and specialized approach to sourcing, screening, and matching candidates, ensuring both technical qualification and cultural fit.
The demand for professionals with unique skills in AI, cybersecurity, and cloud computing continues to outpace the available supply of qualified technology talent. IT staffing solutions, including staff augmentation, enable businesses to quickly fill skill gaps by hiring temporary or contract professionals. This approach provides flexible access to highly skilled employees and helps organizations stay competitive in a rapidly evolving technology landscape.
We can see a surge in need for support among our Customers, with whom last year we have published 512 offers on our website, compared to 245 in 2023 and 317 in 2024. This increase shows us that now more than ever, companies need to rely on competent and trustworthy recruitment teams, who will deliver the best outcomes.
But although the search for niche roles is rising, our TOP 5 open positions in 2025 remain very similar to the previous year. Companies require the biggest number of experts in handling data (SAP Consultant, Business Analyst), developing IT projects (Full Stack Developers for technical skills and Project Managers for soft skills), and providing full support to their own end users (IT Support Consultants).
Soft skills are becoming more important in modern IT projects
"Non-technical roles that combine business acumen with a basic understanding of technology are becoming more valuable. Positions like business analysts, project managers, and product managers are crucial for bridging the gap between technical teams and business objectives." - Technical and Non-Technical Jobs in IT. Why do soft skills take the lead?
"Many roles in the tech world are being taken over by the AI, but people are still very much an important part of every IT project. The need for high-level soft skills directly influences the relationships our Experts form with the customers, and they are becoming more and more essential each year. Although most non-technical roles still require a technical background, it's no longer an all-time must-have."
"Hiring managers are very much focused on finding personalities that can provide the necessary support to their customers and teams. A top priority for client-facing roles is the communication skills - being able to listen, comprehend, and express thoughts in a constructive and efficient manner."
This, of course, doesn't mean that the demand for strictly technical roles isn't prevailing. Data mainly shows us that despite the world choosing more and more automated solutions, strictly human skills cannot be easily replaced.
No entry level for AI experts
Of course, with the rapid growth of AI solutions, we can also see the growing interest in implementing more automated processes in our customers' projects. But since the technology itself is still very new, and the requirements for being an "AI Expert" are changing every second, recruiting the right candidates can be quite a challenge. Most of the current specialists in this field have an extensive background in other areas.
“Just in January we have hired 4 new AI specialists for our Customer in Bulgaria. All of them have previous experience in development, programming, cloud, and DevOps. The only way to find the AI experts is to look for exceptional IT talents with many years of experience in IT who are more than willing to transform their roles and learn new technical skills. It requires people with high stamina and hunger for knowledge. They have to stay up to date with all the latest changes in the field and be able to implement and develop them in their own projects. I predict the demand for such experts to keep growing in 2026."
Furthermore, companies are often looking for people with skills over education, no matter if it's a project management or software development role. It's much more important to have years of experience rather than just a diploma with no portfolio. Unfortunately, this means that entry-level positions are hard to find. We can see this trend even in positions that in the past were the "go-to" for those who wanted to dip their toes in the IT world.
"Although testers still remain one of our most popular roles among the candidates, the demand from customers hasn't been growing, but the level of requirements does. They would much rather choose automating the processes or hiring a highly skilled talent with years of experience, who will be ready to jump into the project without additional costs related to training. But as we see more AI projects come to life, it's also becoming clear that opportunities for careers in cybersecurity (and other emerging areas) are more important than ever. Not only when it comes to data safety, but also the ethical side of each development."
Will remote work cease to exist?
Just in 2025, 24% of reported companies came back to working from the office. And we can see among our Customer, that this trend will not stop in 2026, although in 2025 out of 512 NATEK Job Offers:
🔸 16 demanded on-site presence
🔸 332 were available in hybrid model
🔸 164 allowed for fully remote work
“One of the most challenging recruitment processes of last year was not related to the skills themselves but rather to the customer's requirement for working at a specific location. For many candidates who got used to working fully remote (or at least in a hybrid model), relocating might be impossible. As recruiters, we must both meet the expectations of the clients and also be empathetic toward the candidates who might have to decide to turn their lives upside down if they want to get a certain job.”
"100% of our Bulgarian customers decided to go back to the office, which in some cases was a very rapid change for the whole team. We understand that it was a necessary business decision for them, and that as the recruiters we will have to focus on presenting the candidates with benefits arising from such a turn of events. Many IT talents working today, even already in mid- or senior-level positions, began their career path during COVID, when remote work was the only option. For them to transfer to fully working from the office after 6 years of comfortably doing their tasks from home can be an extreme change. We notice a significant pushback, which limits our candidate pool. But we are determined to keep providing our customers with high results and the best talents. Our Team is eagerly waiting to see how this situation will develop and transform the industry."
TOP Roles in NATEK Projects
It’s important to note that even though the demand for AI roles is growing, TOP positions searched for by both our Candidates and Customers are related to other areas. Such roles as backend and frontend developers, data analysis experts, and SAP Specialists have been among our most popular job offers for many years. Especially with SAP S4/HANA migration deadline almost here, many Customers are still on the lookout for support in this complicated and delicate task.
Look at the graphic below to find out what roles were trending in 2025 for NATEK Customers and Candidates in Poland, Slovakia, Czechia and Bulgaria.
Outsource your team with NATEK
Finding highly skilled professionals can be a challenge. At NATEK, we employ the best recruiters in the IT market to search for top tech talent. Their years of experience in finding and recruiting IT specialists allow them to successfully balance the needs of both the client and the candidate. Entrust your project to us, and we'll find the best project team for you. Go to natek.eu/contact or message our Sales Prospection Team Lead Andrzej Osman at andrzej.osman@natek.eu to tell us about your needs. Contact us and #growITwithus!
Are you looking for a challenging and inspiring job in IT? Go to natek.eu/jobs and apply to open positions to #workITwithus!
